conventional bingo is a well known game. Players are provided with bingo cards that have a matrix of five rows and five columns. The columns are lettered B I N G O from left to right across the top of the matrix and each bingo card has five numbers in each row except the center I column which has a "free space" at the intersection of the third row and the third column.
Bingo balls individually numbered 1-75 are mixed together and balls are selected one at a time. As each ball is selected, the number is announced to the players, who cover any corresponding number on their bingo card. When a player achieves a predetermined arrangement of covered spots on his bingo card, that player yells out "Bingo!" and he wins he game.
In the conventional manner of play of bingo, in order to win the game, a player must cover five spaces in a vertical column, a horizontal row or along one of the two diagonals of the bingo card. The free space in the center of the bingo card allows a player to win with as few as four numbers being drawn. Other winning combinations include the four corners of the bingo card and the eight numbers immediately adjacent and surrounding the free space. Winning combinations can also include the covering of spots on the bingo card so that letter symbols are formed such as an X, U, L, H or T.
The operator of the bingo game will designate at the beginning of the game which particular combination or combinations of covered spots will be winning combinations for that particular game. It is also popular to play "coverall" or "blackout" games in which all of the spots on the bingo card must be covered (the twenty-four spots having numbers and the center free space) in order for the player to win.
Bingo can be played as an amusement game, but it is quite popular as a form of gambling. Players purchase bingo cards for use during the bingo session and winning players receive payouts from the operator or gaming establishment. Typically, a bingo session includes a number of individual bingo games concluding with a coverall game in which a large prize is awarded. Some operators also offer a jackpot prize if the coverall is achieved within a fixed number of called numbers, e.g. 50.
It is also known to add an extra colored bingo ball to the seventy-five numbered balls. The colored ball acts as a wild card or wild number and, if this colored ball is drawn, a player may cover any number he chooses on the bingo card.
Conventional bingo has remained relatively unchanged for many years. As legalized gaming expands into more and more jurisdictions and as Indian gaming becomes more widespread, there is a need to increase the attractiveness of bingo in order to interest more players to participate in the game.
In relative terms, bingo as it is currently conducted in gaming casinos is a low payout game. During each bingo game, numbers are drawn until a player wins, so the gaming establishment is limited in the amount of money it can award as prizes. During a regular bingo game in which the winning bingo combination is simply five covered spots in a row vertically, diagonally or horizontally, a winning player can expect to receive a $500.00 payout. The jackpot coverall game at the end of a session may pay out $1,000.00 to the winning player. If a typical bingo session has ten regular games and a single jackpot coverall game, the gaming establishment has guaranteed to pay out $6,000.00 to the players.
The revenue to the gaming establishment is based on the number of bingo cards that are bought by the players. Since the prize fund is guaranteed at a fixed amount, the more bingo cards a gaming establishment can sell, the better the profit will be.
Bingo operators have attempted to increase interest in bingo by paying larger jackpot payouts for coveralls achieved in a predetermined number of selected numbers. It takes at least twenty-four drawn numbers to achieve a coverall and typically most bingo operators select a number between fifty and fifty-five as the number of balls in which the coverall is achieved in order for the player to win the large jackpot, say $5,000.00. If a coverall is not achieved within this preset number requirement, then the payout reverts to the smaller jackpot amount, say $1,000.00, for the player who achieves the coverall.
With the advent of electronic bingo, players are able to play virtually an unlimited number of bingo cards, thus increasing their chances of hitting a bingo. With all the positive aspects of electronic bingo, it is still limited in the size and amount of the payouts that can be made since there is a cap on the total of bingo ball numbers (seventy-five) available to be chosen and a limited number of locations to hit these numbers (24 spaces). These limitations along with the free space greatly affect the amount of the jackpot prize that can currently be awarded.
There is a need to increase the player appeal of bingo in order to generate increased revenues from the operation of the game. Increased player participation would allow the payment of higher payouts which in turn would generate more player participation.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a method of playing bingo and an improved bingo card that will increase the player participation in the game.
It is a further object of the present invention to increase the popularity of bingo by increasing the difficulty factor of getting a bingo, to allow for prizes high enough to attract gamblers away from other types of gaming such as video poker, slot machines and live table games, and to compete with lotteries.
The present invention adds a degree of difficulty to bingo that increases the odds for obtaining a bingo thus allowing the gaming establishment or bingo operator to offer higher prizes. This is done by adding two columns and two rows to a standard five-by-five matrix card to create a seven-by-seven matrix card. These two additional columns can be labeled with any suitable differentiating symbols such as "E" and "S". This would create a game called BINGOES. The additional columns and rows could be demarcated separately, such as by using different colors to make the game easier to play and understand.
It is a feature of the present invention to utilize a bingo card that uses a matrix of seven rows and seven columns which will increase the difficulty of obtaining a winning combination and will also increase the types of winning combinations that can be utilized.
It is a further feature of the present invention to use different colored bingo balls so that the winning combinations can be based not only the numbers selected but also the colors of those numbers. The bingo card can also have different colored areas corresponding to the colors on the bingo balls.
It is a further feature of the present invention to provide a progressive jackpot feature to the game of bingo in which the player can become eligible for the progressive jackpot by making a separate wager.
It is an advantage of the present invention that the additional features added to the bingo game will allow more payouts to be made by the gaming establishment or the bingo operator. This will result in increased player participation and additional revenues to the gaming establishment or bingo operator.
Other objects, features and advantages of the present invention will become apparent from a consideration of the following detailed description.